Big February Visit Weekend Is An Annual Thing, Apparently

Mason Cole

It's that time of the year again, when Michigan rounds up a large group of highly-touted recruits, shows off their program with the coaches and current commits in full-on recruiting mode, and renders me unable to leave my laptop for the weekend. Those hoping for a repeat of last year's eight-man commitapalooza should temper their expectations, but there's nothing wrong with getting excited about the talent that will be on campus ($). Here's a rundown of this weekend's visitors (all are 2014 prospects unless otherwise noted):

OH LB Michael Ferns and VA QB Wilton Speight — Two of Michigan's three commits—and the two that have been most active in recruiting other prospects—will be on campus doing their best Shane Morris impressions. Both have been mentioned by other prospects as doing an impressive job of selling Michigan.

OH LB Kyle Berger — Berger hails from the same Cleveland St. Ignatius program that produced Jake Ryan, and it could come down to a Michigan/OSU battle for the four-star linebacker.

FL OL Mason Cole — If a player is going to commit this weekend, it's probably Cole, a four-star guard who's already made multiple trips up from Florida. Getting Cole would be big in its own right, and it would also give Michigan the inside track at his high school teammates, four-star WR Artavis Scott and 2015 blue-chip ATH George Campbell—both have offers, and Campbell will accompany Cole on this weekend's visit.

MI WR Drake Harris — This will be the first visit for Harris since his commitment to Michigan State; he's since opened up his recruitment after deciding he'll focus exclusively on football at the next level, though he still remains a soft Spartan verbal. Wilton Speighttold Sam Webb he's been talking with Harris on a daily basis and convinced him to spend two days on campus this weekend. While Harris doesn't seem close to making a final decision, a productive visit could move him closer to making a change in his commitment.

NC RB Elijah Hood — The four-star back had Michigan tied for fifth in his recruitment as of last week, but he's since updated that list and now has the Wolverines in fourth, per ESPN's Kipp Adams ($). This weekend will be key if Michigan hopes to make up ground on Notre Dame, Hood's leader, especially since he plans to make a decision before his senior season.

MI DE Lawrence Marshall — Marshall briefly committed to Ohio State a couple weeks ago before opening up his recruitment after visits to Michigan State and Michigan forced him to reconsider. I'd expect the Southfield four-star end will take a little longer before making another pledge.

MI DE Malik McDowell — While McDowell has been a familiar face around Ann Arbor, he's yet to spend a lot of time with the coaches—that should change this weekend, obviously. McDowell has been mum about his leaderboard, but it's believed that Michigan and Notre Dame hold an edge over Ohio State and Michigan State, and this will be a chance for the Wolverines to separate themselves from the pack.

2015 FL ATH George Campbell — As said above, Campbell is teammates at Tarpon Springs (FL) East Lake with Mason Cole and Artavis Scott, and he appears ticketed for five-star status when the 2015 rankings eventually come out. This will be his first visit to Ann Arbor.

2015 MI ATH Brian Cole — Cole projects to be one of the top athletes in Michigan's rising junior class and could end up at receiver or defensive back at the next level. The 6'2" product of Saginaw Heritage already holds offers from both Michigan and MSU. This will be his first visit to Ann Arbor.

2015 OH CB Shaun Crawford — Crawford doesn't yet hold a Michigan offer, but that didn't stop him from pegging the Wolverines as his favorites in an interview with Scout's Bill Greene ($). He already holds offers from Illinois and Tennessee and ran an electronic 4.52 40-yard dash at a Nike SPARQ combine last week, so don't be surprised if Michigan comes through with an offer sooner or later.

The only player on this list that can be reasonably expected to commit this weekend is Mason Cole, and that's by no means a guarantee. As we've seen in the past, however, strange things can happen when this many prospects get on campus at the same time.

[Hit THE JUMP for the early leading candidate for dumbest rumor of the 2014 cycle, a couple of new offers, and more.]

LOL

Sam Webb: Who are some of the other guys off the top of your head that maybe you reached out to and have been kind of receptive?

Wilton Speight: “Mason Cole, down in Florida. Juju Smith, he and I talk a lot. He really likes Michigan on the education side because he wants to do some stuff with medicine in his studies. Adorree Jackson. Joe Mixon -- he's getting offers from literally everyone this week, but he still has Michigan in his top three, which is good. He and I have been texting a lot. I’ve been trying to get in touch with Jabrill Peppers, but he seems kind of hard to get a hold of, and for some reason he thinks that Coach Hoke is going to the NFL, but I think that was set straight and he doesn’t think that any more."

Sam Webb: Where did that come from? Have you talked to him at all about that?

Wilton Speight: “No, I literally haven’t been able to get in touch with him, but there’s been rumors that it started coming from Ohio State."

Rumors are just that, rumors, so take all of that with a big ol' grain of salt. That said: LOL.

(Also, if it's true that Joe Mixon—four-star RB from the Bay Area—has Michigan in his top three, that's big news; he may be the top back on Michigan's board and has been piling up big-time offers lately.)

Offers And More

Michigan is one of many schools to recently offer LA WR Malachi Dupre, one of the best wide receivers (and best names) in the 2014 class, per Scout's Chad Simmons ($). This seems like a longshot at best—pulling a top-flight player out of Louisiana is one of the taller tasks for any school, let alone one that experiences several months of snow.

One of the top tackles in the class, NC OL Bentley Spain, has narrowed his list to six schools—LSU, Michigan, North Carolina, South Carolina, Stanford, and Virginia—per Scout's Michael Clark ($). Spain plans a spring decision and says he won't do any more interviews until he makes a commitment; don't expect him to land at Michigan unless he visits before making his choice.

GA LB Bryson Allen-Williamstells Steve Lorenz($) that he'd like to visit Michigan—a school his mom "loves"—but that they're currently trailing South Carolina (his leader), Georgia, and Alabama. Allen-Williams picked up an offer from the Wolverines last week.

2015 Cass Tech prospects DE Joshua Alabi and RB Mike Weber tell Scout's Kyle Bogenshutz that Michigan is the "top school" for each of them ($). Both hold Michigan offers after impressive sophomore seasons for the reigning back-to-back state champs.

2014 five-star VA S Quin Blanding will announce his decision on February 27th, per ESPN's Corey Dowlar ($). While Michigan is in Blanding's top ten, he's expected to end up at Virginia—the chances of him picking the Wolverines are slim-to-none.

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Maybe we won't have a "commitapalooza" but I still think the safest thing to do at this point is BUCKLE UP!

What is the logic behind the Hoke to the NFL rumors? I just don't see him as the type to make that jump, is he a good enough coach? Absolutely. However, it seems like he's all about developing young men, not catering to the egos of the NFL.

“When your team is winning, be ready to be tough, because winning can make you soft. On the other hand, when your team is losing, stick by them. Keep believing” ― Bo Schembechler

Was it the 8-5 record last year that solidified that he is a good enough coach to be in the NFL? You know another coach had a 8-5 record last season... you know who it is? He coaches in a sunny place... Pac-12 school... any guesses?

Rich Rodriguez

Coach Hoke is by all means recruiting well and I certainly like his hiring of DC. The facts are we haven't won a B1G championship yet. We haven't even playe din the B1G championship yet. We beat OSU once and MSU once. SO we are .500 in those "red circle games" ole DB likes to yack about. That isn't success in my opinon and it shouldn't be in your either. It certainly isn't in Hokes, you can bet on that.

or uh, Duder, or El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing.

You are right about being good enough yet. I dont think he is good enough yet, but one difference with RRod, Hoke did go 11-2 something Rich did not do his first year at Arizona and I am a big fan of Rich.

It's refreshing to hear someone who is open to other perspectives and willing to admit it. You don't see that on the internet very often.

I guess I kind of viewed Hoke as a potential DL coach, similar to his brother who I believe is/was a secondary coach in the NFL. I think he would be a good fit in that capacity. I just don't see it happening because Hoke appears to really enjoy coaching at Michigan.

“When your team is winning, be ready to be tough, because winning can make you soft. On the other hand, when your team is losing, stick by them. Keep believing” ― Bo Schembechler

What Hoke has done in just two seasons with a very young team is pretty good in my opinion. 8-5 was bad, but Michigan was at least competitive in all five losses. Actually they played good enough to win against OSU, USC, and Notre Dame. If I remember correctly the average margin of defeat against ranked opponents in the Rodriguez tenure was greater than twenty points. He never beat MSU or OSU. Hoke won more conference games in one season than RR did in three.

the rumors come from me. I am following the playbook of Bob Stoops who turns every coaching change rumor into a multi-year extension. I am planning on getting Brady an extension until 2098 with this tactic.

I wonder if there's some sort of effect when a big group comes to visit like this. For example, if a couple are very high on Michigan (or, in this case, already committed and selling Michigan) then do the recruits feel "pressured" (not necessarily in a bad way) to commit to Michigan?

I just wonder if there's a benefit to hosting a lot of talent at once versus spreading it out over a few weeks. Not that it matters either way, just curiosity.

I understand where this sentiment comes from, but we just finished a very large class that committed very early, on average, and yet we had exactly one decommitment (Conley). (There was also the Dawson thing, but all's well that ends well.)

On the other hand, a guy like Treadwell came close several times, decided to wait until he felt it, and ended up somewhere else.

I would welcome any commitments this weekend, even if the weekend's excitement/nerves have something to do with it.

You don't want an osu/Lawrence Marshall situation. Early commits are nice, but commits that stick matter more, whenever they may occur. Plus, we have a small class this year, let's space them out more so we have stuff to get excited about all through the recruiting cycle.

I don't think the point was that we want guys to commit who really don't want to be there. I think the point the OP was making was that when you have other top recruits committing to a school that is at or near the top of your list, that might pursuade you to jump on board too.

In a perfect world, you'd want every Michigan player to have chosen Michigan no matter the circumstances, but that's not always the truth. What if Joe Bolden doesn't commit to Michigan early, flies up the rankings, takes officials to USC, Alabama and Oregon in addition to UM and ends up liking one of the other schools more? Instead, he committed to us early in the process and decided not to visit anywhere else. I'm glad he did that.

might end up helping Hoke as much or more than they will hurt him. After all, the logical implication of the rumor is that Hoke must be a damn good coach, not just some guy who got lucky in his first season at Michigan.

“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard." — Mencken

When Rich Rod was hurting and on his way out. Brady Hoke had told his AD at SDSU that Michigan is his "Dream Job" and if they offer he is accepting. He was also quoted as saying "I would have walked to Michigan if I had to". Anyone with that kind of dedication would not just up and leave for the NFL. Brady is a happy and honest man. Why would he give up Michigan for a low end job in the NFL? You wouldn't. That is an absolutely Asinine rumor, which made me giggle like a school girl when I heard it.

guh

To be honest, it could be genius. Zook is a good recruiter. He is good at spotting talent. I'd say there are problems with some of the things that come with being a head coach (game management, for one), but he won't be doing that if he is hired in a recruiting cooridnator type role. It could be a good, even great, hire for somebody.

To be fair Ace, before last year's commitment-palooza, there were probably only a couple of kids (Lewis, Dawson, Shallman) that you would have thought "this kid might commit this weekend". Most people thought Bosch was leaning ND if I remember correctly, Fox wasn't even visiting that weekend, neither was LTT (I think), Taco and Butt were maybe leaning M, but seemed like they weren't close to making a final decision. I guess what I'm trying to say is...you might want to stay close to a computer this weekend.....just in case.